VirtualBox is a virtual PC emulator like VMware. It is in constant development and new features are implemented all the time. e.g. version 2.2 introduced OpenGL 3D acceleration support for Linux and Solaris guests. It has a Qt GUI interface, as well as headless and SDL command line tools for managing and running virtual machines. It includes guest additions for some guest operating systems, which integrate functions of the guest and host systems, including sharing files, the clipboard, video acceleration and a “seamless” window integration mode.

In order to use the graphical interface, based on Qt (VirtualBox command), you will also need to install the qt4 package. This is not required for the simpler SDL-only GUI (VBoxSDL command) nor for the VBoxHeadless command.

Hosts running a custom kernel

VirtualBox works just fine with custom kernels such as Linux-ckwithout the need to keep any of the official ARCH kernel packages on the system. The trick to keeping pacman from bringing down the ARCH kernel packages is to install virtualbox with the virtualbox-host-dkms package, which contains the source for the virtualbox kernel modules. See FS#26721 for further explanations.

Once virtualbox-host-dkms is installed, simply generate the kernel modules for your custom kernel by running:

Note: (Not working currently) To load/compile virtualbox modules automatically at startup you can install and add dkms in your DAEMONS array.

Automatic re-compilation of the virtualbox host modules with every update of any kernel

This is possible thanks to vboxhost-hookAUR from the AUR. In vboxhost-hook, the 'automatic re-compilation' functionality is done by a vboxhost hook on mkinitcpio after forcing to update the linux-headers package. You will need to add 'vboxhost' to the HOOKS array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, as well as 'linux-headers' and your custom kernel(s) headers to the SyncFirst array in /etc/pacman.conf for this to work.

The hook will call the dkms command to update the virtualbox host modules for the version of your new kernel.

Note: If you are using this functionality it's important to look at the installation process of the linux (or any other kernel) package. vboxhost hook will tell you if anything goes wrong.

Setup

Add the desired username to the vboxusersgroup. Everything may work fine without this step but shared folders and possibly some other optional stuff require it to work. The new group does not automatically apply to existing sessions; the user has to log in again or start a new environment with a command like newgrp or sudo -u username -s.

# gpasswd -a username vboxusers

Loading Kernel Modules

VirtualBox running on Linux uses its own kernel modules, including a mandatory module named vboxdrv, which must be loaded before virtual machines can run. It can be automatically loaded when Arch Linux starts up, or it can be loaded manually when necessary.

To load the VirtualBox driver at startup, add a file with the *.conf suffix in the /etc/modules-load.d directory (e.g. virtualbox.conf) that reads "vboxdrv":

# tee /etc/modules-load.d/virtualbox.conf <<< "vboxdrv"

Note: You may need to update the kernel modules db in order to avoid 'no such file or directory' error when loading vboxdrv. Run: depmod -a.

To load the module manually:

# modprobe vboxdrv

To start the VirtualBox graphical manager:

$ VirtualBox

To ensure full functionality of bridged networking, ensure that the following kernel modules are loaded:

vboxnetadp vboxnetflt vboxpci

Guest additions disc

The virtualbox package also suggests installing virtualbox-guest-iso on the host (Arch Linux) running VirtualBox. It is a disc image that can be used to install the guest additions onto guest systems. Make it available to the (running) guest by going to Devices and clicking "Install Guest Additions... Host+D". Then run the guest additions installation from inside the guest.

Booting a live disc

Click the 'New' button to create a new virtual environment. Name it appropriately and select Operating System type and version. Select base memory size (note: most operating systems will need at least 512 MB to function properly). Create a new hard disk image (a hard disk image is a file that will contain the operating system's filesystem and files).

When the new image has been created, click 'Settings', then CD/DVD-ROM, check 'Mount CD/DVD Drive' then select an ISO image.

Install the Guest Additions

Create a *.conf file (e.g. virtualbox.conf) in /etc/modules-load.d/ with these lines:

/etc/modules-load.d/virtualbox.conf

vboxguest
vboxsf
vboxvideo

Automatic re-compilation of the virtualbox guest modules with every update of any kernel

This is possible thanks to vboxguest-hookAUR from the AUR. In vboxguest-hook, the 'automatic re-compilation' functionality is done by a vboxguest hook on mkinitcpio after forcing to update the linux-headers package. You will need to add 'vboxguest' to the HOOKS array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, as well as 'linux-headers' and your custom kernel(s) headers to the SyncFirst array in /etc/pacman.conf for this to work.

The hook will call the dkms command to update the virtualbox guest modules for the version of your new kernel.

Note: If you are using this functionality it's important to look at the installation process of the linux (or any other kernel) package. vboxguest hook will tell you if anything goes wrong.

Start the sharing services

After installing virtualbox-guest-utils above, you should start VBoxClient-all to start services for sharing the clipboard, resizing the screen, etc.

If you are running something that launches /etc/xdg/autostart/vboxclient.desktop, such as GNOME or KDE, then nothing needs to be done.

If you use .xinitrc to launch things instead, you must add the following to your .xinitrc before launching your WM.

Using USB webcam / microphone

Make sure the virtual machine is not running and your webcam / microphone is not being used.

Bring up the main VirtualBox window and go to settings for Arch machine. Go to USB section.

Make sure "Enable USB Controller" is selected. Also make sure that "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller" is selected too.

Click the "Add filter from device" button (the cable with the '+' icon).

Select your USB webcam/microphone device from the list.

Now click OK and start your VM.

Using Arch under Virtualbox EFI mode

My experience with this configuration was pretty terrible, but it does work.

UPD. Using efibootmgr has the same effect as using VirtualBox boot menu (see the note below): settings disappear after VM shutdown. First, efibootmgr does *not* work. It will appear to work, but all changes it makes appear to be overwritten on reboot. After performing a standard UEFI/GPT installation, reboot and you should get dumped to the EFI shell. Type exit and you will get a menu. Select the Boot Management Manager, Boot Options, Add Boot Option. Use the file browser to find the grub efi file and select it. Add a label if you want. Afterwards, select Change Boot Order from the menu, use arrow keys to select your Arch option, and + to move it up to the top. GRUB should boot by default now.

Here I'm using consistent mapping name (HD16a0a1). It's probably a good idea, because they do survive configuration changes.

Note: Another useful way to get back to the EFI menu after autobooting is working is to press the Template:Keypress key inside GRUB and type exit. Obviously, this will only work with grub-efi, not grub-bios.

Regenerating the grub.cfg file may also be required to fix broken UUIDs. Check with the lsblk -f command that they match.

Yet another useful way to get to VirtualBox boot menu is pressing F12 right after starting virtual machine. It comes in handy when using rEFInd + EFISTUB, for example.

Shared Folders as Arch Linux Guest

Shared folders are managed via the VirtualBox program on the host. They may be added, auto-mounted and made read-only from there. Creating a shared folder from the VirtualBox program in the host locates that folder in /media/sf_SHAREDFOLDERNAME. At this time an additional step is needed to have that folder created in the Arch Guest because Arch use a package for Guest Additions. To create and access this shared folder from the Arch Guest, this must also be done at the command line after installing the Guest Additions package(s) from pacman:

# groupadd vboxsf
# gpasswd -a $USER vboxsf

If you wish, a symbolic link may be made to another folder in your home directory for easy access. As an example, if a shared folder named "Dropbox" was created in the VirtualBox program on the host machine, then /media/sf_Dropbox is automatically created in the guest so this could be done:

$ ln -s /media/sf_Dropbox/* ~/dropbox

The .run script provided in the Guest Additions iso does this for you, however, Arch does not recommend using that script so this step must be done manually. The instructions for it were found here: (pastebin: [1]) .

If shared folders are not auto-mounted, try manually mount or read the next section.

To prevent startup problems when you're using systemd, you should add comment=systemd.automount to your /etc/fstab. This way, they are mounted only when you access those mountpoints and not during startup. Otherwise your system might become unusable after a kernel upgrade (if you install your guest additions manually).

WinXP: Bit-depth cannot be greater than 16

If you are running at 16-bit color depth, then the icons may appear fuzzy/choppy. However, upon attempting to change the color depth to a higher level, the system may restrict you to a lower resolution or simply not enable you to change the depth at all. To fix this, run regedit add the following key to the Virtual Windows XP registry:

Copy&Paste not working on Arch Linux Guest

Since updating virtualbox-guest-additions to version 4.2.0-2 copy&paste from Host OS to Arch Linux Guest stopped working. It seems to be due to VBoxClient-all requiring root access. In previous versions adding VBoxClient-all & to ~/.xinitrc was sufficient to make copy&paste work. Update ~/.xinitrc to match sudo VBoxClient-all & and add the line , NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/VBoxClient-all to your username in the sudoers file and restart X. It should all work again. The line in the sudoers file should look similar to this:

# Allow sudo for user 'you' and let him run VBoxClient-all without requiring a password
you ALL = PASSWD: ALL, NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/VBoxClient-all

Note: Use visudo to edit the sudoers file. This will check for syntax errors when saving.

Mouse is resetting to (0,0) randomly and frequently

Due to xorg bug 54353 (and related bug reports discussed within), the VirtualBox mouse device will frequently reset to the upper left corner of the screen.

The workaround suggested in the bug discussion can be applied by adding a script to /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d with: